Bøger i Orientalische Religionen in der Antike serien

This volume is the first in a planned edition of the complete corpus of ancient Mesopotamian god lists. It contains the lists "An = Anum" (including its forerunners) and "An = Anu Sa ameli" along with several similar, more-or-less fragmentary lists. The god list An = Anum was, with its ca. 2000 entries, the most comprehensive list of its kind. It is systematically organized and contains explanations both of individual deities and of certain groups of deities. The textual witnesses also provide, to a varying degree, pronunciation and translation glosses. In this edition each list is presented as a composite reconstructed text with translation, critical apparatus, and synoptic table of the textual witnesses, followed in each case by a philological commentary. In addition, the textual witnesses are transliterated individually. Names, words, and glosses are made accessible through detailed indexes. Hand copies and photographs of previously unpublished sources conclude the volume.

Were there figurines in Yehud during the Achaemenid period, and in particular in Jerusalem? A positive answer to this question disproves the general consensus about the absence of figurines in Yehud, which is built on the assumption that the figurines excavated in Judah/Yehud are chronologically indicative for Iron Age II in this area (aside from a few typological exceptions). Ephraim Stern and others have taken this alleged absence of figurines as indicative of Jewish monotheism¿s rise. Izaak J. de Hulster refutes this `no figurines -> monotheism¿ paradigm by detailed study of the figurines from Yigal Shiloh¿s excavation in the `City of David¿ (especially their contexts in Stratum 9), providing ample evidence for the presence of figurines in post-587/586 Jerusalem. The author further reflects on the paradigm¿s premises in archaeology, history, the history of religion, theology, and biblical studies, and particularly in coroplastics (figurine studies).